On 11th May, the group ‘Libérons le Louvre’ held an artivism performance to urge the iconic Louvre museum in Paris to end its sponsorship arrangements with oil and gas major Total.
The performance ‘flight of the starlings’ represented a whirling mass where no individual is isolated. The choice of the flight of starlings is a strong symbol: the movements of each bird is influenced by those of all the others, allowing for solidarity and horizontal coordination of the mass.
At the end of the performance, the participants laid down origami birds, symbolising the fragility of living beings in the face of the impacts of climate change and the strength of collective mobilisations aimed at blocking climate-damaging projects. The performance was part of the Global Divestment Mobilisation — a coordinated wave of action of across 48 countries to pressure institutions to cut their ties with the fossil fuel industry driving climate change.
Clémence Dubois from 350 France:
“The Fossil Free movement to divest institutions from fossil fuels shares a lot in common with starling murmurations: it takes many shifting forms and, through its coordinated actions, it creates a mass movement that’s as beautiful as it is unstoppable”
